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Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Saturday, February 6

Feng Zhi - Bridge (Mandarin Chinese - English translation)

I am no Chinese speaker: I can only read a little Chinese. Thus, this translation shouldn't be considered reliable at all. It should be read just as a personal interpretation.

Bridge
"The isolation between you and her is like the expansion of the sea."
"Even if it is like the expansion of the sea,
I will continue carrying gray mud and bricks, night and day
above the waters - and build a bridge."

"This bridge cannot be built even if it takes millions of years."
"Yet I am willing to work ceaselessly for decades.
I cannot only forlorn and depressed hope to reach the strange splendor of the other shore (1)
and spend like this the whole expansion of my life."

Notes
(1) "彼岸" (bǐàn), lit. "that shore", may refer to the Buddhist paramitas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%81ramit%C4%81), or rather to the passage towards Nibbana after dead, cf. the expression "到彼岸", lit. "go towards the other shore" (http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/T44/1851_012.htm ; p0705b13-b24)


冯至

「你同她的隔离是海一样的宽广」
纵使是海一样的宽广, 
我也要日夜搬运着灰色的砖泥, 
在海上建筑起一座桥梁

百万年恐怕这座桥也不能筑起
但我愿在几十年内搬运不停。 
我不能空空地怅望着彼岸的奇彩, 
度过这样长这样长久的一生。